The use of certain types of suppressive shielding for the containment of explosive blasts is well known. For example, vented blasting mats have long been used in quarry operations to confine detonation effects. The design of such mats was primarily achieved through trial and error. More recently, the application of suppressive shielding has been considered for use in other commercial and military applications.
In military applications, suppressive shielding developments have been generally directed towards the containment of an IED within a shielding. The blast, fragments and/or fireball which accompany such a contained explosive—as for example, the detonation of a round used as a large caliber weapon—can be considered a worst case test for a shielding container.
An explosive suppressive shielding has many important applications. For example, such shielding can be used in transportation terminals, such as airports and bus stations where terrorist attacks can occur. The shields may take many forms in such an application. For instance, a suppressive shielding container may be placed over a suspected explosive device at baggage checkpoints. Such a shielding container may also be placed on an aircraft over a suspected explosive device until proper evacuation of the passengers and crew.
Naturally, applications for such a shield are not limited to airports and other transportation facilities. In an industrial plant, for example, equipment subject to explosion may be surrounded by a suppressive shield in order to protect workers in the vicinity.
Obviously, such vented suppressive shielding also has important military applications. Explosive devices may be stored within a shielded container or larger shields may be used to surround explosive storage areas. Such a shielding barrier requires that the shield has the ability to withstand not only high pressure waves and a thermal release (fireball) but also high velocity fragments (shrapnel) that invariably are part of military munition fragments after detonation.
The problems of providing a useful suppressive shielding are many. Concrete revetments/walls and steel shelters can often provide sufficient shielding, but are too bulky and heavy to provide the various types of protection mentioned above. Such shields often inhibit movement of people or machines because of their large size. Also, the construction of portable shields of these materials is not possible because of their excessive weight and bulk.
Because of the abovementioned there has been a need for a suppressive shielding which is relatively light and not bulky, but which still provides sufficient protection from the blast pressure, heat, flame and fragments which may accompany an explosion. In many cases, IEDs are found in locations where large/heavy blast systems are not tactically deployable or effective.
It would be very beneficial generally—and to the military specifically—to provide a shield for an IED or other explosives; which is compact and readily portable, practical and relatively low-cost, easily produced and/or assembled out in the field, and capable of sustaining high-pressure blast waves, thermal releases and/or high-velocity shrapnel or other fragments.